While sitting in seat 4C on a local regional jet from Denver to Austin I brushed elbows with one of those people who makes this world a better place. I'll call him Jon. Our interaction was brief (to say the least) and I did not catch his real name, but he left a mark on me I will not soon forget.

It was so simple really. Anyone could have done it. I could have done it. But I didn't, at least not at first. I was lost in small thinking, limited thinking, and very quickly...no thinking at all.

You see planes are very much as Tyler Durden described them, "single serving" and I had fallen prey to such limiting thoughts this December night.

I had boarded the plane according to all policies, guidelines, laws, and etiquette, (as I typically do), and was seated patiently next to my seat mate reading an article about $AAPL while the remaining passengers finished boarding.

Toward the tail end of the luggage toting conga line strolled a mop-haired young man. As he passed my seat I overheard a woman's voice asking someone behind me, "would you mind sitting here in 6A so I can sit with my husband?" The seated man's immediate stern response, "I'm all set, but thank you. I'm all settled in." When in fact the window seat next to him was yet to be occupied. She responded with disappointment in her voice.

It was now time for the mop-haired man (her husband) to take a seat beside the unswayed passenger in 5C (directly behind me). As he stepped into the row my seat mate, Jon, muttered, "sheesh, unreal." Still reading my single serving article on my single serving phone I responded, "I know," content to continue my single serving trip to Austin.

That is when Jon became a hero. He thought bigger, bigger than the situation, and bigger than himself. He looked at me and said, "would you..., do you want to switch with them?" Suddenly, my single serving wait on the Tarmac was interrupted. "Sure, of course," I said, beginning to rise from my seat.

In one fowl swoop Jon made 3 small dents in the universe, he mobilized me (distracted, contented, single-minded), made a silent statement about the man in 5C, and reunited a man to his bride (at least for the duration of the 996mile flight).

Jon wasn't trying to be a hero, he simply did the right thing, and was bold enough to call another to action, me. He wasn't held back by the thought that it would be an imposition on me, or that he would have to sit by this man in 5C for the 2hr flight. He simply made a declaration of what was right, and acted on it. Bravo Jon, bravo.

Seemingly simple, but for many of us (notably me), so hard to do. I was reminded of a quote that reads, "It is the choices we make and actions we take in the seemingly mundane moments, that define who we truly are." Live boldly today. Don’t settle.